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The number of students who were improving in math by the time they reached Grade 6 provincial testing has decreased from 28% to 17%. Not only that, but merely 52% of Grade 3 and 6 students met the provincial standard of 75% — or a B grade — from 2010 to 2013 in numeracy tests.

It’s a startling decline found in this year’s Fraser Institute Elementary School Report Card, based on data from province-wide test results in literacy and numeracy administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office, and whose analysis suggests “students who do not meet the provincial standard early in their schooling ... are much more likely to carry those difficulties” into high school.

“The thing that’s in the news now is whether Canada is falling apart in math,” said the Fraser Institute’s Peter Cowley, who co-authored this report.

“If you believe like many people do that the stem skills (science, technology, engineering and math) are the key skills for this century, then you have to be concerned with the capacity of our kids to develop a strong, basic level of understanding of mathematical principles and practice,” said Cowley.

And, it doesn’t get any better in Toronto, where the public and Catholic school boards didn’t meet the provincial standard of 75% in elementary school math in 2012-2013. Nor have they the past five years.

“We know in the last few years, we’ve made some gains,” said TDSB education director Donna Quan. “In Grade 6, we’re 62% and the province is 57%. In Grade 3, we’re 69% and the province is 67%.

“The task of mathematics belongs to all of us, so everyone (no matter what subject) should have a hand in how they deliver mathematics education,” said Quan. “It’s not a singular approach for a singular teacher.”

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The province has given the TDSB approximately $28 million this year to support school programs. Money from that is being used toward 10 math coaches who help teachers model “effective instructional practice,” Quan said.

“It’s not about funding or size (of schools in the board),” she said. “Having excuses is part of the problem. We don’t have room for excuses. These coaches are now looking at ways to engage more student achievement.”

The low math scores aren’t just relegated to EQAO, though.

In December, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results came back and found the overall average math score for Ontario students, among students worldwide, has gone down 16 points the past nine years — from an average score of 530 points in 2003 to 514 points in 2012.

“These latest international assessment results reinforce what EQAO’s provincial assessments have been demonstrating for the past few years — that Ontario student math achievement is an area that needs urgent attention,” EQAO’s CEO Bruce Rodrigues said at the time.

Last year, the Ministry of Education spent $21 billion toward 72 school boards across the province. This year, the budget is set at $24.1 billion while the province faces an $11.7-billion defect for 2013-2014.

And, while both reading and writing skills are improving in Grades 3 and 6, the province is only now acknowledging failing math grades are a problem — but still downplaying it.

Last month, Education Minister Liz Sandals announced a $4-million plan to fund current teachers to take advanced-qualification courses in math. The money will also make sure those in the new two-year teachers’ college program devote more time learning to teach math.

“People shouldn’t be alarmed, but we can do better,” Sandals said. “We are constantly reviewing the curriculum. There are always changes that come out of the math curriculum review cycle, but when we look at our curriculum compared to other jurisdictions, (they are all) pretty much standard.”

Mathematicians insist there’s too much focus on literacy — even in math questions.

“I realize some of the questions that are asked can be perhaps how a student is able to read a question and can piece together a real life example and maybe that’s testing something different than fundamental math literacy,” said Monica Nevins, a math and statistics department chairman at the University of Ottawa who has previously worked with the Canadian Mathematical Society.

“We can’t let our knowledge base diminish while the rest of the world puts emphasis into creating mathematically-talented and literate people who will in the end take on all the good jobs we’d like to keep here,” said Nevins.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, representing 76,000 elementary public school teachers and education workers across the province, agreed.

ETFO first vice-president Susan Swackhammer said “there has been so much money, resources and time put into improving literacy at the expense of everything else

“We now don’t have recesses and lunch time all over this province, we have balanced days so we can have 100-minute literacy blocks,” said Swackhammer. “If you put all of your eggs in one basket, then you can’t be surprised when some of your baskets have half.”

Tory education critic Rob Leone said parents in his riding of Cambridge are concerned their kids aren’t learning the times tables anymore.

“We’re spending $8.5 billion more on education since 2003 each year and we have 250,000 fewer students, but the reality is our test scores aren’t going up,” said Leone. “Parents are wondering where the money’s gone and they have serious questions about the quality of education in our schools right now.”

There is too much student reliance on calculators in math, Leone added.

“We really have to get back to basics,” he said. “The use of calculators is prevalent. I remember we weren’t allowed to use calculators until later grades when we were in elementary school. The government has acknowledged late in the game they have a problem with math and they’ve come up with a band-aid solution in an election year.”

Looking at the bigger picture, almost a third — 28.3% — of students in the report card’s 3,030 elementary schools across Ontario are performing below the provincial standards. These numbers have remained virtually stagnant from the year before.

Doretta Wilson of the Society for Quality Education said students aren’t being taught the fundamental building blocks and being pushed onto the next level without mastering those skills.

“It’s mostly because of how the curriculum is structured,” said Wilson. “You can’t have complex thinking without having the tools at hand to do that more complicated higher-order thinking with. It’s running without learning to crawl.”

ETFO said it couldn’t comment on the report card as it hadn’t been released, but indicated EQAO tests are not an accurate way to measure student success. Random testing would be better.

“It’s not about ranking and pitting schools against each other and making some kids feel less worthy in some neighbourhoods from others,” Swackhammer said. “The Fraser Institute is about blaming and shaming. It’s not about making better. Bad, bad teachers, stupid, stupid kids, right?”

Cowley defends the annual ranking, insisting what the report card does best is show parents and students how their school is doing compared to others in the report.

“The criticisms the report gets, that it’s too narrow or it’s a snapshot in time ... it’s really easy to say that stuff,” he said. “This result is showing us the extent of which each child in the elementary school is acquiring the skills and knowledge embodied in the curriculum by the ministry.”

Ontario subtracts on its math scores: Fraser Report

The number of students who were improving in math by the time they reached Grade 6 provincial testing has decreased from 28% to 17%. Not only that, but merely 52% of Grade 3 and 6 students met the provincial standard of 75% — or a B grade — from 2010 to 2013 in numeracy tests.

It’s a startling decline found in this year’s Fraser Institute Elementary School Report Card, based on data from province-wide test results in literacy and numeracy administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office, and whose analysis suggests “students who do not meet the provincial standard early in their schooling ... are much more likely to carry those difficulties” into high school.